“We are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other, if we are to succeed.” — Frederick Douglass
(A great quote, from a great man! I got a question for all the people who – so lightly – respond with Blue Lives Matter, or All Lives Matter. Do you realize/comprehend that it’s NOT Just Black Lives Matter, but Black Lives Matter Too??? Or, are your hearts and heads just so full of hatred that you can’t see when other people are being oppressed? We all have so much more in common, once you get past our cosmetic differences. Be well and do good, friends.) — YUR
It takes getting out of our own world and really seeing and experiencing, at least on as close a level that is possible, what it would be like to be living as a black person in deep poverty. My only opportunity was as a home care nurse in the poverty-stricken city of Chester, PA. Multi-generations living in a home with a leaking roof…..great-great grandmother, bed-ridden with wounds that needed dressing, grandmother trying to take care of pre-school grand-kids while mom worked a low-paying job. No grocery store in town…no money for the smoke alarm batteries that beep the whole visit (I started carrying them with me to give out)…take medicine every other day to afford to buy some food at the mom and pop grocery with no fresh foods…only 1 car in the family…..a man asleep on the couch in the livingroom..not sure of his status in the household….the worst school system in the state, right next to one of the best (Swarthmore), gun shots ringing out from somewhere down the road….and I’m not even addressing prejudice in all this. and an acquaintance of mine said she was afraid for her white grandchildren because the people of color are taking over……what ????????
Unbelievable, right?!! — YUR
If only I had space for a detailed reply. I will say white people lived like that also. Only they were far removed and neglected, living in the country, the backwoods, the mountains. I was one of them so I speak with real life experience. We are the forgotten ones, always gave been. So sorry you have decided to step into the political arena. Always enjoyed ready your posts til now.
I haven’t heard of unarmed rural whites being shot and killed by the police, or any other law enforcement officials, in great numbers, Jackie. (Maybe the corporate media is keeping this from me, and the rest of us?) Either you are relatively new to this blog, or you don’t read it regularly, because I often express my political views. Anyway, you might be interested to see that whites are hardly the minority in the U.S.. (Not quite sure about percentages in the backwoods.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_ethnicity_in_the_United_States
— YUR
I’ve been waiting a long time, Unc, for somebody to acknowledge the maiming of “Black Lives Matter”. Maybe somebody has, but you win the prize because you’re the first I’ve heard.
As what happens to many social movements, its labeled with an incomplete statement. It should be “Black Lives Matter, Also”.
When they say black lives matter, some idiot mindlessly intones, “All lives matter”, completely missing, or ignoring, the point of the protest. The protesters are saying that they don’t see evidence that the ‘black’ is being included in the ‘all’.
Wasn’t it Sojourner Truth who asked, “Ain’t I a woman?”, questioning if her humanity had been subtracted from the species.
Sojourner Truth: Ain’t I A Woman?
http://www.sojournertruth.com/p/aint-i-woman.html
That’s all the protesters are asking, if the ‘black’ has been eliminated from the spectrum so that it’s no longer included in the ‘all’, and therefore its humanity can be ignored ?
Color doesn’t matter, character does. Plenty of whites are killed, actually more in number, but that is such a pathetic argument from someone who obviously knows nothing of life outside the burbs. Does it matter to you and BLM that black on black murders are out of control..young men, young women, even children. That’s where your heart should be. Doing something about that hatred among their own. And, because someone stated Blue Lives Matters or All Lives Matter it does not mean they are full of hate. So, who is the one full of hate here. Check your mirrors, and so should BLM. Hey, news flash, it’s about All people being treated equally, regardless, as long as they work towards that goal. Division fails, and groups like BLM, and those that support it without knowledge of what really happens only hurts the cause. Goodbye. BTW, the clue answer is ‘local chapter’s.
Jackie,
The fact that “Blue Lives Matter” and “All Lives Matter” only came about as a *response* to the “Black Lives Matter” movement should speak volumes to all thinking people. As I originally stated, the entire point of “Black Lives Matter” movement is that they want people to know that their lives matter TOO. Black on black crime is a completely different issue from the issue of the police killings of people of color, especially of those who were unarmed. You are at least right about one thing: “it’s about All people being treated equally”. THAT is the point of Black Lives Matter.
If this explanation is not clear enough for you, please read that of lwc’s.
— YUR
Thank you, lwc. Perhaps your explanation will enlighten Jackie. “Too” = “Also”, but regardless the implication was already there. But, unfortunately, some people only hear what they want to hear.
— YUR
This is one of the beefs I have with spell-check: the word “maiming” was supposed to be “naming”. Even after I thought it was corrected, it happened anyway when I wasn’t looking.
There’s got to be a better way.
I agree with one point implied in Jackie’s comment: minorities killing each other is actually the bigger problem than the police are. But killing each other is not the same problem as police doing it, and it’s unlikely the police can fix that. Only the community can fix that from within.
Minority neighborhoods pay the same share of their salaries for police protection as everybody else, and some are in greater need of protection. But needing the police to come, or calling the police to come, require separate calculations. In too many cases, the police bring just as much danger as help.
I can post news clippings for you of people who needed help, but ended up harmed by the police they called. I’m sure, however, those who are keen enough to discern the details in news stories can pick them out.
Understanding Baltimore’s Murder Epidemic From Multiple Perspectives
NPR’s Ari Shapiro speaks with photographer Amy Berbert and Rev. Rodney Hudson of Ames Memorial United Methodist Church in Baltimore. Throughout 2017, Berbert has documented the location and time of the more than 300 homicides that took place in the city during 2016.
http://www.npr.org/2017/12/28/574314882/understanding-baltimores-murder-epidemic-from-multiple-perspectives